RECEIVED: Cerealist ATCs from Amy Irwen (Minnesota, USA) and Fashionable Mail-Art from Jen Staggs (Texas, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member Amy Irwen (Rosemont, Minnesota, USA)

 

November 13, 2011 - The State of Minnesota is home to many outstanding mail-artists: Bifidus Jones, Rain Rein Nevermind, RCBz, and Grigori Antonin (to name a few luminaries known well at the IUOMA). Now we are witnessing the ascension of a new shining star among them: Amy Irwen.

 

Amy sent me the wondeful Artist Trading Cards, shown above, dripping with sincere sweetness but also reminding us of one of the great blights of the modern world that ironically darkens the advantages of much breakfast cereal: White sugar.

 

The ATC seems a natural choice for cereal box mail-art enthusiasts. In fact, I recommend ATCs in lieu D-Koder rings and other prizes. The envelope is very nice (IUOMA stamp above), and here is the reverse:

 

I still owe Amy a pair of asemic glasses, which has been slowed by the disarray of DK merchandising. But soon! Many thanks Amy.

 

Jen Staggs (Dallas, Texas, USA), from what I understand, has kept a low network profile for the past several months because she was completing a graduate degree in art history. Congratulations to her for that achievement! Hopefully, she is back in full force.

 

I think Jen has established a wholly unique place in mail-art with her signature work that uses women's fashion across the decades as a subject, and with a discerning eye she explores the nuances of gender roles. In other words, Jen Staggs' work in this area is far more than an aesthetic look at fashion for the sake of fashion or a fetish - not that those things are necessarily bad. However, I admire the depth she provides through a connection to concept and theory. She recently sent me this great postcard-size print:

 

 

Themes of constriction and repression - as well as a kind geometric logic (including the absence of the head?)  - are self-evident and extremely clever. Here is the reverse side:

 

Again, my deepest thanks to Amy Irwen and Jen Staggs for this mail-art.

 

MAIL-ART PSYCHIC

 

Frosted flakes. 

 

Reincarnated as spandex grape nuts 

 

St. Paul pink

 

The problem is not the pseudonym

 

89 or 4

 

You have a sense of good taste, and it shows in your lightweight knit top

 

[De Villo Sloan]

Hi Cheryl, yes, be careful what you wish for. Check back here tomorrow for a DVS MAIL-ART EXCLUSIVE: Richard Canard Weighs in on the Crisis in Ceralism. Hey, I'm just a patsy.

 

Hi Snooker, yip, we're channeling the collective consciousness of the eternal network again to answer the BIG questions. Only that big bag of fortune cookie slips from someone's waitress days are all used up.

[cheryl penn]

Nice! Seems like your cereal box request conversion on Auburn is working :-) X